1. Technical Field
This invention relates in general to mobile electronic devices and, more particularly, to a hardware and software platform for mobile electronic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Handheld portable devices are gaining popularity as the power and, hence, functionality of the devices increases. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are currently in widespread use and Smartphones, which combine the some of the capabilities of a cellular phone and PDA, are expected to have a significant impact on communications in the near future.
Some devices currently incorporate one or more DSPs (digital signal processor) or other coprocessors for providing certain discrete features, such as voice recognition, and a general purpose processor for the other data processing functions. The code for the DSP and the code for the general purpose processor is generally stored in ROMs or other non-volatile memories, which are not easily modified. Thus, as improvements and new features become available, it is often not possible to upgrade the capabilities of the device. In particular, it is not possible to maximize the use of the DSPs or other coprocessor which may be present in the device.
Therefore, a need exists for a data processing architecture which can be upgraded and optimizes use of multiple processors and coprocessors.